Travelers Group Inc.
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American multinational
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through independent agents. Travelers is incorporated in Minnesota, with headquarters in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and its largest office in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. It has been a component of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...
since June 8, 2009. The company has field offices in every U.S. state, plus operations in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, and
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. Travelers ranked No. 98 in the 2021
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
list of the largest United States corporations with total revenue of $32 billion.


History

The main predecessor companies of The Travelers Companies, Inc. are The St. Paul Companies, Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corporation. Saint Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. was founded March 5, 1853, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to serve local customers in lieu of waiting for claim payments from insurance companies on the east coast. It barely survived the
Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission ...
by dramatically paring down its operations and later reorganizing itself into a stock company (as opposed to a
mutual company A mutual organization, also mutual society or simply mutual, is an organization (which is often, but not always, a company (law), company or business) based on the principle of mutuality and governed by private law. Unlike a cooperative, members ...
). It then spread its operations across the country. In 1998 it acquired
USF&G USF&G was an American insurance company that existed from 1896 until 1998. It was originally called the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company. The insurer formed a holding company for its insurance businesses and changed its name to USF&G i ...
, known formerly as United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, an insurance company based in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
, for $3.9 billion in stock and assumed debt. By buying USF&G, they went from the 13th to the eighth largest property and casualty insurance company in the United States. Through economies of scale between the two companies, and a difficult business environment, they downsized the company substantially over the coming years by selling certain business units to focus on more profitable business units. The Travelers Insurance Company was founded in Hartford by James G. Batterson, a stone contractor who became aware for the first time of
accident insurance Accident insurance is a type of insurance where the policy holder is paid directly in the event of an accident resulting in injury of the insured. The insured can spend the benefit payment however they choose. Accident insurance is complementary to ...
for travelers (i.e., an early form of
travel insurance Travel insurance is an insurance product for covering unexpected losses incurred while travelling, either internationally or domestically. Basic policies generally only cover emergency medical expenses while overseas, while comprehensive policies ...
) while traveling in England in 1859 from Leamington to London. His railway ticket included
accidental death An accidental death is an unnatural death that is caused by an accident, such as a slip and fall, traffic collision, or accidental poisoning. Accidental deaths are distinguished from death by natural causes, disease, and from intentional homici ...
insurance coverage up to the amount of £1,000, and lesser indemnities for non-fatal injuries. Batterson visited the London and Paris offices of European insurers to learn about the accident insurance business, then went home to Hartford and raised $500,000 in capital to launch a company to provide accident insurance to American travelers. Travelers obtained its official state charter on June 17, 1863. The company did not issue its first regular insurance policy until April 5, 1864, but informally entered into its first insurance agreement a month earlier. On March 1, 1864, local banker James Bolter jokingly inquired of Batterson how much it would cost to insure him up to $5,000 for accidental death for the journey from the post office to his home. Batterson replied, "Two cents," which Bolter promptly tendered; those coins have been kept by Travelers ever since. Available via
ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for l ...
Historical Newspapers.
The original company logo was a knight's suit of armor. The red umbrella first appeared in Travelers advertising as early as 1870, but at that time was not yet the official logo. The company changed its official logo from a suit of armor to the Travelers Tower in 1920, and then replaced that with the red umbrella in 1959. During the 20th century, Travelers was responsible for many insurance industry firsts, including the first automobile policy (1897), the first air travel policy (1919), and the first space travel policy (late 1960s, for astronauts in the
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
). In 1954, the company established the world's first privately owned weather research facility, the Travelers Weather Research Center, the first organization to make weather predictions using probabilities ("20% chance of rain"). By the early 1990s, Travelers was predominantly a general property and casualty insurer that also happened to do some travel insurance on the side, and in February 1994, Travelers quietly exited its original travel insurance business by selling the unit to a retiring Travelers executive. The resulting company is now known as Travel Insured International, a Crum and Forster Company. In the 1990s, Travelers went through a series of mergers and acquisitions. It was bought by
Primerica Primerica, Inc. is a multi-level marketing company that provides insurance, Investment management, investment and financial services to middle-income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Bene ...
in December 1993, but the resulting company retained the Travelers name. In 1995, it became The Travelers Group. It bought
Aetna Aetna Inc. ( ) is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
's property and casualty business in 1996. In April 1998, the Travelers Group merged with Citicorp to form
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
. However, the synergies between the banking and insurance arms of the company did not work as well as planned, so Citigroup spun off Travelers Property and Casualty into a subsidiary company in 2002, although it kept the red
umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...
logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...
. Three years later, Citigroup sold Travelers Life & Annuity to
MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produ ...
. In 2003, Travelers bought renewal rights for Royal & SunAlliance Personal Insurance and Commercial businesses. In 2004, the St. Paul and Travelers Companies merged and renamed itself St. Paul Travelers, with its headquarters set in St. Paul, Minnesota. In August of that year, it was charged with making misleading statements in connection with the merger. Despite many assurances from CEO Jay Fishman that the newly formed company would retain the St. Paul name, the corporate name only lasted until 2007, when the company repurchased the rights to the famous red umbrella logo from Citigroup and readopted it as its main corporate symbol, while also changing the corporate name to The Travelers Companies. In 2009, Travelers designated its New York City office as its headquarters for legal purposes, but as a practical matter, the company considers its "executive offices" to be New York City, Hartford, and St. Paul, of which Hartford is by far the largest. Many of Travelers' ancestor companies, such as St. Paul and
USF&G USF&G was an American insurance company that existed from 1896 until 1998. It was originally called the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company. The insurer formed a holding company for its insurance businesses and changed its name to USF&G i ...
, are technically still around today, and still write policies and accept claims in their own names (under the overarching Travelers brand name). As is typical of most insurers in the United States, Travelers never dissolved the various companies it acquired, but simply made them wholly owned subsidiaries and trained its employees to act on behalf of those subsidiaries. This is a common risk management strategy used by U.S. insurance groups. If any one company in the group gets hit with too many claims, the situation can be easily contained to that one company (which is placed in runoff and allowed to run its policies to completion), while the remainder of the group continues to operate normally. In November 2010, Travelers entered into a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
agreement under which the company would invest in J. Malucelli Participações em Seguros e Resseguros S.A., the market leader in the surety insurance business in Brazil. The transaction closed in June 2011 with Travelers acquiring a 43.4 percent interest. Travelers' investment in newly issued shares significantly increased J. Malucelli's capital level, positioning it for substantial growth in Brazil. At the time, Travelers had the option to increase its investment to retain a 49.5 percent interest, which the company later did in 2012. In June 2013, Travelers announced the acquisition of
Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company See also *John A. Macdonald *The Dominion Curling Club Championship References Defunct insurance companies of Canada Financial services companies established in 1887 Financial services companies based in Toronto 1887 establishment ...
from E-L Financial Corporation Limited (TSX: ELF). The transaction later closed in November 2013. The combined organization, referred to as Travelers Canada, remains headquartered in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. The company's joint venture with J. Malucelli in Brazil completed the acquisition of a majority interest in Cardinal Compañía de Seguros, a Colombian start-up surety provider in September 2015. The business, which is based in
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
, operates under the co-branded name J. Malucelli Travelers. In October 2015, Travelers acquired a
majority interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting Share capital, stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds les ...
in the property casualty business of its J. Malucelli joint venture in Brazil. J. Malucelli commenced writing property casualty business in 2012. The property casualty business operates under the Travelers brand and focuses on property, general liability, construction and financial insurance products. The business is based in São Paulo.As a result of the transaction, Travelers now owns 95 percent of the property casualty business with Paraná Banco, the parent company of J. Malucelli, retaining a five percent interest. Travelers’ interest in the surety business of the J. Malucelli joint venture remains at 49.5 percent. In March 2017, Travelers agreed to acquire UK-based Simply Business from Aquiline Capital Partners for approximately $490 million. Simply Business is a leading U.K. distributor of small business insurance policies, offering products online on behalf of a broad panel of carriers. It has more than 425,000 microbusiness customers covering more than 1,000 classes of business, and was named “Best Company to Work For” by The Sunday Times in 2015 and 2016. The transaction adds to Travelers' digital capabilities. In 2018, Travelers ranked 106 on the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
list of largest U.S. companies. On June 8, 2009, Travelers replaced its former parent Citigroup on the
Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indice ...
. On August 4, 2015, the company announced that Alan Schnitzer would succeed Jay Fishman as chief executive officer effective December 1, 2015. On August 4, 2017, Travelers completed its previously announced acquisition of
Simply Business Simply Business is a digital broker and agency for small business insurance. History Xbridge, Simply Business’ holding company, was founded by Brad Liebmann. Simply Business was launched in 2005 as an online broker for business insurance and t ...
, a leading provider of small business insurance policies in the United Kingdom. On August 15, 2018, Travelers acquired the majority stake of Zensurance, a digital business insurance brokerage in Canada.


Business model and products

Travelers provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals. The company offers insurance through three segments: * ''Personal Insurance'', which includes home, auto and other insurance products for individuals * ''Business Insurance'', which includes a broad array of property and casualty insurance and insurance-related services in the United States * ''Bond and Specialty Insurance'', which includes surety, crime, and financial liability businesses which primarily use credit-based
underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...
processes, as well as property and casualty products that are predominantly marketed on an international basis.


Alleged anticompetitive practices

In January 2007, Travelers agreed to pay US$77 million to six states to settle a class action suit and end investigations into its insurance practices. The charges involved paying the insurance broker
Marsh & McLennan Companies Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, inves ...
contingent commissions to win business without the knowledge of clients, thus creating a conflict of interest. Additionally, the investigation examined whether Travelers had created the illusion of competition by submitting fake bids, thus misleading clients into believing they were receiving competitive commercial premiums.


National Football League lawsuit

In August 2012, Travelers sued the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
for forcing the company and its subsidiaries to pay to defend the league for failing to protect players from brain injury, in a case filed in the
New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...
. The league had sued over three dozen insurance companies the week before in an attempt to cover the claims that players made against the league.


Advertising

The logo of the red umbrella was created in 1870 when it appeared in a newspaper ad for the insurance company. It was revived in the early 1960s, when it was given its signature red color by Harry W. Knettell, then the account executive for The Travelers and Vice President at the Charles Brunelle advertising agency. During the late 1960s Charles Brunelle was the largest advertising agency in Hartford, a city known as "the insurance capital of the world," "the Hollywood of insurance," or "America's file cabinet" due to the many insurance companies in that town. The Travelers was one of their many insurance company clients. In 2006, a Travelers commercial titled Snowball was nominated for an Emmy. Snowball featured a man, walking down a steep
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
sidewalk, who trips and knocks over a table of items at a garage sale. The man and the items roll down the street, forming a ball which gathers garbage cans, pedestrians, construction materials, motorcycles, light poles, and other items, in a manner very reminiscent of the "snowball" effect or the cult video game ''
Katamari Damacy () is a 2004 action-puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. The game's plot concerns a diminutive prince on a mission to rebuild stars, constellations, and the Moon, which were inadvertently destroyed by his f ...
''. The creators of the ad said it was simply based on the
snowball effect A snowball effect is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself (an exacerbating feedback), becoming larger (graver, more serious), and also perhaps potentially more dangerous or disastrous (a vicio ...
, that they had never heard of the game, and were surprised by the resulting similarity. In 2007, the company secured naming rights for an annual golf event to be called the
Travelers Championship The Travelers Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Cromwell, Connecticut, a suburb south of Hartford. Since 1984 the tournament has been held at TPC River Highlands. It is managed by The Greater Hartford Community Fou ...
golf tournament, formerly the Greater Hartford Open, on the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
. In April 2008, The Travelers repurchased the rights to the famous red umbrella, which is featured in several commercials starring Paul Freeman as well as other advertisements. In July 2008, the spot "Delivery," also starring Freeman, was nominated for an Emmy Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.


Current and former executives

* Edward Budd, former Travelers Chairman & CEO * Robert I. Lipp, former Travelers CEO *
Joe Plumeri Joseph J. Plumeri II (born July 7, 1943) is vice chairman of the First Data Board of Directors. He was the chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings (Willis), a New York Stock Exchange-listed insurance broker, until July 2013. The company has 1 ...
, former Travelers Vice Chairman, former Chairman & CEO of
Willis Group Holdings Willis Group Holdings plc was a multinational risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company headquartered in the Willis Building in London. It was the third-largest insurance broker worldwide by revenues. In 2016, the com ...
, and owner of the
Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...
* Sandy Weill, former Travelers Chairman & CEO * Jay S. Fishman, former Travelers Chairman & CEO *
Lisa Caputo Lisa Caputo is the executive vice president and chief marketing and communications officer for The Travelers Companies, Inc. She joined Travelers on June 1, 2011. At Travelers, she is a member of the Management and Operating Committees and the ...
, Current Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, former press secretary for
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
* Alan Schnitzer, Current President & CEO


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Travelers Companies 1853 establishments in Minnesota Territory American companies established in 1853 Companies established in 1853 Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Corporate spin-offs Financial services companies established in 1853 Financial services companies of the United States Insurance companies based in New York City Publicly traded companies based in New York City Risk management companies